SULEKHA SANYAL (1928–1962)

Sulekha Sanyal was a writer and activist who witnessed one of the most turbulent times in Bengali history, recording it all as it tore apart and rearranged women’ lives. She was a revolutionary and a communist. The many revolutionaries who hid in her home town of Korkandi, now in Bangladesh, inspired her to join the political movements then afoot in Bengal. An early influence on her was the Brahmo philosopher Ramtanu Lahiri. She was married, briefly and unsuccessfully, from 1948 to 1956. Her chief work is Nabankur (The Seedling) 1956, which gives a moving picture of a young girl growing up and confronting the realities of patriarchy in which she lives.

Sulekha also has about 30 short stories to her credit which started with ‘Pankotilok’ published in 1946. Among all her stories, ‘Shindure Megh’ (Clouds Tinged with Red) became well-known among Kolkata’s literati since a film was made based on it. Stories like ‘Jibonayon’, ‘Antorai’, ‘Folgu’, ‘Jonmastomi’, ‘Chhoto Mashi’, ‘Khelna’, ‘Kit’, ‘Songhat’, ‘Biborton’, ‘Chheleta’, ‘Ekti Mamuli Golpo’, ‘Ulukhar’, ‘Kishori’, ‘Poroshpor’, ‘Khola Chhithi’, ‘Shock Therapy’ are some of her more memorable short stories .Her book Dewal Phool (Wallflowers) was published after her death. She died prematurely of leukaemia.